French intelligence investigates spy device found aboard docked ship

By Esra Taskin and Merve Berker

PARIS/ France’s domestic intelligence agency, DGSI, has launched an investigation into a surveillance device discovered on a ship docked in the southern port of Sete, following intelligence provided by Italian authorities, media reports said Wednesday.

The operation was carried out last week under instructions from the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, targeting the “Fantastic,” passenger ship owned by an Italian company and capable of carrying 2,000 people, according to reports.

During the raid, two suspects, one from Latvia and the other from Bulgaria, were detained on suspicion of tampering with the device,

The Latvian suspect was taken to Paris over the weekend and formally placed under investigation for “violating an automated data processing system in service of a foreign power.”

He was subsequently remanded in custody, while the Bulgarian national was released.

DGSI’s investigation revealed additional materials during searches conducted on the vessel and in Latvia.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez described the incident as “very serious” in an interview with public broadcaster Franceinfo. “Some individuals attempted to breach a ship’s data processing system,” he said.

He added that investigators believed it was “a foreign interference operation,” noting that “these foreign interferences nowadays always come from the same country.”

Fantastic has been operating in the Mediterranean for about 20 years.